Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Urban planning from the ground (or sea) up

Anyone who's spent any time in Istanbul has probably observed how few public spaces (especially green ones) this congested city has, and how eagerly people make use of unlikely recreational areas --

whether picnicking on a traffic median or fishing from a half-built pier.

Istanbul-based architects Can Sucuoğlu and Elif Ensari noticed the same phenomenon in the coastal city of İzmir, where they saw people flock to the shoreline despite its lack of urban amenities, pacing endlessly or sitting on the pavement just to be close to the sea.

The ingenious solution they devised -- a kind of floating parklet -- was showcased recently at the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial, along with a kindred-spirit project in Istanbul's Kadıköy neighborhood to create street furniture from recycled materials. Both initiatives, as I wrote for The Atlantic's CityLab site, seemed to offer an alternative to the massive, top-down "urban transformation" projects that have been so disruptive and controversial: "human-scale, easily replicable urban improvements that are responsive to local residents’ needs."